John shut his truck door and smiled as he saw Anna watering the plants behind the house, a hand at her back to support it with the weight now distributed more toward the front. His feet crunching on the gravel drew her attention and Anna waved to him. Returning the wave John came up to her, taking the watering can from her hands, and kissed her.

Anna smiled into it, pushing away after a moment. "What's gotten into you Mr. Bates?"

"Can't a man come home and kiss his wife after a long day at work?"

"Of course but I didn't expect this." Anna's hand tapped at John's hip as her protruding belly prevented her reaching farther around it. "I would've thought that when I grew to the size of a whale you'd be a bit less enthused."

"Never." John held her close, "Besides, I'm a man who loves the water so doesn't it stand to reason that I'd be invested even more once you start looking like a sea creature."

"When I start growing tentacles I rather hope I'm not fulfilling a fetish." Anna reached for the watering can and grunted when her arm could not grab it. "Darling?"

"Oh," John grabbed it for her, "Why don't you let me do this and you go lie down?"

"I'm pregnant, not an invalid." Anna advised but stood to the side as John continued watering. "How's work?"

"Is it possible that I've been doing it for months and I still feel like I'm managing to screw up basic tasks?" John shook his head, "I thought this was going to be easy and yet I've got Thomas Barrow sneering his reprimands at me eight hours a day."

"You could always retire."

"I'm a bit young to cash it all in." John finished with the can and inspected the beds before leading Anna back inside. "Besides, what kind of example does that set for my son?"

"I think it'll be another daughter."

"Where's my first daughter?"

"Said she'd be at a friends' studying late since they've got exams next week and she doesn't think she can study through any of your midnight cooking."

"Her loss I guess."

"It's fine." Anna winked at him, "We'll have time before the next one has to study for anything and we can complain about noise first."

"Because you insisted they not tell us." John set the watering can inside the greenhouse and checked it over before locking the door. "If you'd just let the technician say it-"

"We wouldn't be surprised."

"We also wouldn't be painting the nursery gray." John chided, leading Anna inside. "I still think we should've gone for blue."

"Gray's a neutral color."

"Gray reminds me of death." John removed his shoes and then helped Anna with hers, kissing at both her ankles.

"You know," Anna shifted out of his grip. "I was always told it's the women who get horny in pregnancy but you've been absolutely insatiable since I got pregnant."

"Not that I was much help in the first place." John winked at her, working his jacket and jumper over his head to leave his work coveralls hanging by the back door. "As evidenced by your current state."

"Yes." Anna smiled at him, rubbing the back of her neck and the small of her back at the same time.

"Hey," John came over to her. "What is it?"

"Just this dull ache at my back." Anna caught his hands, kissing them. "Do you remember that first time, on the boat?"

"How could I forget? It was the best sex I'd ever had up until then."

Anna frowned, "And since?"

"No," John shook his head, thinking a moment. "That would've been that time I surprised you in the garden I think."

"The garden?"

"I dunno," John put his arms around her waist, stroking over her stomach through her maternity shirt. "Something about being out in the open where anyone could see us was pretty heady."

"Was it now?" Anna giggled, "But that's not what I was getting at."

"I can't tell you which was worse because they were all great."

"No," Anna insisted, pulling John's hands over her stomach. "I mean the miracle this is."

"I think I'm following but something tells me I'm not at all."

Anna put her hands up to cup John's face while he continued to run his hands over her belly. "Remember how I told you I couldn't get pregnant?"

"I also remember thinking maybe it was your douchebag boyfriend."

"It might've been partially him but mostly I think it was you." Anna tilted her head down a moment, "When I was at Downton Mary had a doctor take a look at me, a specialist she knew from when she was struggling to have her baby."

"Why?"

"She thought that there could be some damage beyond the basic checks they ran to make sure I wasn't carrying Green's baby." Anna swallowed, "He told me I suffered from incompetent cervix."

"From context clues I know that's not a good thing."

"It meant I couldn't carry a child to term because the weight would've caused a miscarriage at about three months."

"Anna-"

"I'm alright now," Anna soothed. "Doctor Ryder was very good at his job and he fixed it. And while that's it's own miracle, you're the other miracle."

Her hands covered his at her stomach. "And this is our miracle together."

"Yes it is." John grinned and turned his hands to take hers, dragging her toward their room. "And I want to celebrate that miracle by giving you a warm bath and an early night."

"What happened to what you need?" Anna nodded at the obvious tenting in his jeans but John waved it off.

"It's not like I've never tried to recite all the constellations before."

"I'm sure your teenage years were a nightmare for you."

"They weren't overly great in that regard, I'll admit." John took them into the bathroom and filled the bathtub before turning to Anna to help her out of her clothes.

Pregnancy gave her a glow that John loved. The one that set her skin with a luster only he could see. And one that told him they had succeeded in achieving the pinnacle of happiness he never thought he would see again.

But, he admitted, it also swelled her ankles a bit, made mobility difficult, and gave her back pain with the redistribution of weight. Those little aches and pains always made him feel a little guilty. Anna, however, always shushed him and then placed a pair of headphones over her stomach to pay soothing music to the baby or insisted John read aloud to them both. In those moments, with his hand on her skin, John marveled when he felt their baby move.

There had been the time the hand pressed so hard against Anna's skin it had looked like something out of a horror film and Ondine had jumped up from her place on the far chair but it was all worth it. Worth the late night cravings that expanded John's culinary skills and the changes to their sex life. Changes he rather enjoyed, as they had to keep things interesting… much to Ondine's occasional discomfort.

John gave Anna his hand and helped her into the bath. She immediately sighed and when John set to work washing and massaging over her. Her ankles and feet took special attention before John set to working the kinks out of her back. Small snores had John smiling at Anna's ability to sleep anywhere now and he regretted having to wake her to help her out of the bath.

But once she was wrapped up in bed he drained the tub and set to showering the smell of the sea and fish off himself. He dried off with and checked his vibrating phone. A smile graced his face at the text from Ondine about a later dinner with friends that go a reply about curfew that only received an eye roll emoji.

Turning into his room John saw Anna on her side, breathing deeply but not the deeply of sleep. He came to her side, kneeling on the bed, and put his hand on her shoulder. "Anna?"

"I think I need something."

"What?" John's mind immediately flooded with every possible worst-case scenario.

"You." Anna pulled John's hand over her stomach and into the blanket he noted she had not replaced with pajamas, to brush the top of her. "Please?"

"You don't even have to ask." He ran his fingers over her slowly. "I thought you weren't in the mood."

"Whatever gave you that impression?"

"Earlier-"

"I was having a go at you, not destroying your prospects."

"Oh." John dragged a finger through her folds to get her to whimper. "Then, if you insist, it'll be my pleasure."

"I rather think it'll be mine first."

John dragged the blanket away with his free hand and moved behind Anna, spooning around her to ensure she did not have to move from her more comfortable position, and working his fingers deeper. He used his knee to separate her legs and carefully lifted it back of his hip. His other hand wrapped around to massage the muscles there, loosening her up to make sure he did not end their romantic intentions with one false move.

But Anna relaxed completely against him, letting out her own whimpers and moans into the pillow under her head as John pressed forward to draw his fingers from front to back while his erection worked from back to front. All the while his other hand tracked its path over her body with soft touches and gentle kneading to relax her even further. As his hand graced over her stomach and worked toward her breasts he imagined he felt the baby move inside her and grinned to himself.

"What?" Anna gasped out when John's fingers finally worked inside her, driving her mad with slow strokes to match the steady rubbing flick of his thumb against her nerves.

"Just the thought that the baby might know what we're doing."

"I want her as ignorant as possible of this."

"She'll have to know one day."

"Not today." Anna shifted her hips against him, unconsciously rubbing herself back against him. "Please hurry John. I'm already on fire."

John wasted no more time and hurried Anna to her finish. It seemed so much easier now, with all the additional blood running through her, to send her over the edge. He flicked his wrist a final time and nipped at her shoulder and jaw when her inner walls strangled his fingers.

His palm worked to rub her down, the overly sensitive skin still vibrating as he withdrew his fingers. A moment later he positioned himself, slowly sliding in until he seated himself as deeply inside her as possible, and waited. Anna's hips moved first and John took the nonverbal cue to move.

He rocked into her, drawing to the very edge and then sliding back inside as deeply as he could go. John leaned over her to kiss at her neck and finally her lips when she managed to turn her head toward him. And his hands continued their gentle assault on her breasts. That only made her groan into him, the sensitivity there exaggerated with the way they swelled in proportion to her pregnancy… and made it easier to drive her back up toward another orgasm.

There was no rush, no hurry, and all the time in the world as John slowly wound Anna to the edge again. She fell over, taking him with her, and they both lay there afterward with the sound of their breathing echoing around the room. John kissed her cheek as he withdrew and cleaned them both before wrapping Anna in her blanket again.

"I don't need this if you're staying."

"I've got to get dinner on or you'll be hungry later and so will the baby." John came around to her side of the bed and kissed her stomach, grinning when he felt the baby move there. "I won't be gone long, I promise."

He left her dozing in the bed, the baby monitor set up so if she even so much as sneezed he could hear her, and went to the kitchen in his pajamas. The clank and occasional thump of his ingredients always had him cringing and pausing, praying he did not wake her, but it never did. John smiled to himself and set to work.

It became so engrossing that he almost did not hear the door open.

"Dad?" John turned from the oven at the sound of Ondine's voice, missing the tremor there he did not recognize. "Dad are you home?"

"Yes I'm in the kitchen." He turned as her footsteps neared the door, "I thought you were-"

"Thought she was what, Mr. Bates?"

John tightened his grip on the skillet in his hand and leveled it at the tall man with slightly buggy eyes. "Get out of my house."

"Oh I don't think that's a good idea." The man pushed Ondine forward, hand wrapped over her neck from the back, and stepped into the light enough that John recognized the glint of the pistol the man pressed to Ondine's neck. "We wouldn't want any sudden moves that might injure your dear little girl here."

"Ondine, I want you to listen to me very carefully." John darted his eyes at the man before meeting hers again. "It's going to be alright. Understand me? Everything's going to be alright."

"Try not to lie to the child. She's a teenager, not a fool." John bristled at the other voice he recognized when Green stepped behind Ondine, smoothing his hand over her hair before taking the other man's position to hold her in place. "Give her some credit since she knew not to talk to us and even put up a fight."

"I kicked him in the balls." Ondine managed defiantly and the tiny part of John's heart not clenched in fear rose in pride.

"Good girl."

"Didn't do her any good though, did it?" The taller man cut in. "Now, I don't want to make a mess in your lovely kitchen or your… suitable house so let's keep this cordial shall we?"

"You're the one with the gun mate."

"And you're the one with the skillet so why don't you show a little care for the life of your daughter here and put that down?" The man waved his gun toward the island and John rested the skillet there. "There, now we can speak like civilized adults."

"Civilized adults don't usually use children as their body shields or bargaining chips." John bit out, "And there's usually an introduction when a stranger enters the home of another."

"How rude of me." The man put his free hand on his chest. "I'm Simon Bricker. I'm going to guess you've heard of me."

"Only bad things."

"None of them are true, I assure you."

"Your gun there's not helping your case when it comes to earning my good opinion." John held up his hands as he stepped toward them. "Why don't we go where conversations do and take our seats in the sitting room?"

"Fine idea." Bricker waved him forward, "And while you're at it, please bring your wife out here. I think it's time for a bit of a family reunion."

"She's sleeping."

"Then wake her up, Mr. Bates. I've not got all night and the more of my time you waste the less time you'll have as well."

John swallowed and met Ondine's eyes again. "Take them to the sitting room and I'll get Anna, alright? I'll be right back."

"Okay." Ondine nodded and managed her steps, albeit rather stiffly, toward the sitting room.

John hurried down the hall, noticing Green watching him, and entered the bedroom. His hand on Anna's shoulder shook her a bit more than necessary and he covered her mouth as she woke up. His finger to his lips silenced her but widened her eyes.

"Bricker's here and he's got a gun on Ondine. He's brought Green with him."

"What?"

"There's no time to explain." John helped Anna into knickers and one of her looser bras before wrapping a nightgown and her dressing gown around her. "We just need to do what they say and we'll be alright."

"John, what about the police?"

"I've not got my phone."

"I've got mine."

"Hello Anna." They both turned, Anna dropping her phone as the voice sounded from the door but John saw it flash as nine-nine-nine before he kicked it under the bed. "You look a bit different than when I last paid you a visit here."

Anna's fingers dug into John's arm and he pushed her behind him. "Leave her alone Green. We're coming."

"With a woman that size it must take you ages to get anywhere." Green snorted, following them to the sitting room.

Anna immediately took the spot next to Ondine, holding her close, and John sat on the other side as Green took his position behind the chair where Bricker lounged. The gun aimed at them, Bricker's elbow supported on the arm of the chair to keep it steady. John swallowed, clutching the shivering Ondine and the quivering Anna as close to him as possible.

"I'm sure you all know why I'm here."

"I'm afraid we've got no clue."

Bricker raised an eyebrow and then focused on Anna. "You should know, since you never gave it over to the police."

"They're long gone."

"I know you moved them from your greenhouse hiding place. Green here discovered that when he left you… how to put it delicately… ah, yes, without your virtue." Bricker sniffed at John, "Though I think he did the honors of that long before Green took his piece of you."

"Speak like that about my wife again and I'll-"

"And you'll what, Mr. Bates," Bricker pointed the gun at him. "Defense of her honor is all well and good but I've six bullets in here and there are three of you. That's two each and from this distance I like the odds that I make all my shots."

Bricker stopped, "I apologize, one each and two to spare. I forgot there's a little parasite growing in your wife right now."

John swallowed but said nothing. Bricker took a deep breath and turned his focus to Anna again. "Now, where is the package you had with you when you first washed up on this godforsaken beach?"

"I buried it."

"Yes, you did bury it once but then you moved it."

"They're gone."

Bricker tightened his hold on the gun. "They'd better not be."

"They're gone from that hiding place."

"So where are they now?"

Anna swallowed, "I took them into the bay. They're in one of the lobster pots. I thought it was safest since no one would look out there."

"In a lobster pot?" Bricker snorted his laughter, "I always knew you were smarter than you looked."

"I'll give you the location of it if you promise to leave them alone."

"Anna-" John tried to argue but Bricker hissed both of them to silence.

"No, here's what we'll do so you don't have us drawing all that unnecessary attention to ourselves by pulling up every lobster pot in the bay." Bricker stood and waved his gun to get them to stand. "We're all going to board that rather conveniently docked boat out there and you'll take us to them. Once they're in my possession again you'll bring us back here and we'll never see one another again."

"Because you'll kill us?" Ondine managed, cowering when Green went to swipe at her.

John knocked his hand away and landed a punch that Green drew a gun to return but Bricker stopped him. "Alex, we're all gentlemen here. He's defending his daughter and there's something to be said about that."

"Not like you." John responded but Bricker did not even flinch.

"And we'll have none of that." Bricker crouched to look Ondine in the eye. "And you'll never see us again because none of us are going to talk about this ever again. We'll go our way and you go yours. Does that sound fair?"

Ondine nodded and Bricker stood. "Excellent. Then let's be off as the sooner we start the sooner this is all over."

"Da?" Ondine turned to John and he risked a look at Anna before nodding.

"Come on Ondine. Let's get them what they want and then get back here. It'll all be over soon."

"I'll stay." Green insisted, shaking his head at the beach as they left the house.

"It's only water Green." Bricker forced him forward. "What's it going to do to us? We'll be on a boat."

"People fall off of boats." Green muttered as John lifted Anna onto the deck and urged she and Ondine below before helping Bricker and Green board.

"Then don't fall off." Bricker held his gun steady on John. "Soon as you can Mr. Bates. We don't have all night."

"Then we're off." John released the ropes and steered into the harbor.